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City clerk outlines 20‑day process to fill Seattle’s District 2 vacancy; applications due Jan. 9
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Summary
Seattle City Clerk Shereen Dedmon briefed the City Council on the appointment timetable after Councilmember Tammy Morales’s resignation, including application requirements, verification by King County Elections, and a tentative calendar of public forums and interviews.
Shereen Dedmon, Seattle city clerk, told the City Council on Jan. 6 that Councilmember Tammy Morales is resigning effective Jan. 7, 2025, and that the Seattle City Charter sets a 20‑day appointment window to fill the District 2 seat.
The appointment is temporary: the appointed member will serve until the results of the 2025 general election are certified. Dedmon said applications opened Jan. 2 and “need to be received by the city clerk's office by 5 PM, January 9th.” The application must include a cover letter, a résumé and a financial interest statement specifically for Position 2; the form has been updated to include applicant name and address to allow verification with King County Elections.
Why this matters: the appointment decides who represents District 2 in City Council votes and committee work until the next certified general‑election results. The council must fill the vacancy within the Charter timeline or meet every business day thereafter until the seat is filled.
Dedmon described a multi‑step timetable for vetting and selecting an appointee: the clerk’s office will forward applications to King County Elections for residency and voter‑registration verification; that verification period runs through Jan. 13. The council will hold an executive session to review qualified applicants, name finalists on Jan. 17, host a public forum (tentatively Jan. 21), hold interviews at a special meeting, and aim to appoint the replacement on Jan. 27. If the council does not appoint by Jan. 27, it must meet every business day until the vacancy is filled.
Dedmon said staff will redact personally identifying information from resumes and supporting materials before publishing application packets for council review; she credited the public disclosure officer, Matt Jagger, for automating redactions. She told applicants not to wait until the deadline because the clerk’s office will reject materials it receives after 5:00:00 PM on Jan. 9.
Applications and community‑organization submissions to moderate or advise on the required public forum must be emailed to councilvacancy@seattle.gov. Dedmon said community groups may apply either to moderate the forum or to submit feedback on forum structure, questions and accessibility accommodations.
At the briefing Dedmon said roughly nine applications had been received by midday Jan. 6 and that staff expects that number to rise before the deadline. She emphasized the sequence of verification and redaction steps that must occur before a list of qualified applicants is published on the council website (planned for Jan. 14).
